Monday  |  Trinity A  |  04:50 PM–05:10 PM

#14656–Base Shake Vibration Test Facility Verification Test Article Design Considerations

Base shake vibration test facilities may use a surrogate test article for commissioning their facility. This surrogate test article may also be used for subsequent proficiency testing of the test personnel and health monitoring of the facility itself to verify the test personnel and facility are capable of performing vibration testing in a safe and efficient manner. This surrogate test article is typically referred to as a Verification Test Article (VTA). Initial design parameters of the VTA typically center around the what the anticipated largest test article and the highest-level test environment are and wanting to show the vibration test facility can withstand the resulting inertial loadings, particularly the overturning moments. While having the VTA be a mass simulator of the heaviest anticipated test article is important, there are several other design parameters that may not be obvious when first designing the VTA that should be taken into consideration in order to maximize the usefulness of the VTA. This paper will look at a VTA used in the past to commission the Mechanical Vibration Facility and another that is currently being used and highlight their key design parameters and how it has affected their effectiveness. Drawing from experiences with them, this paper will discuss several key VTA design parameters. It will also briefly touch on Smart Dynamic Testing (SDT) and how a test correlated VTA plays a key role in it. While this paper primarily focuses on vibration facility VTA’s, many of the concepts and recommendations presented here are equally applicable to VTA’s for shock and acoustic testing facilities.

Emma Pierson   NASA Glenn Research Center
Vicente Suarez   NASA Glenn Research Center
Troy Lyons   NASA Glenn Research Center
Lucas Shearer   NASA Glenn Research Center
Brittany Davis   NASA Glenn Research Center
Lucas Staab   NASA Glenn Research Center
James Akers   NASA Glenn Research Center